Cotton picker



July 1, 1941. E. A. JOHNSTON COTTON PICKER Filed Nov. 25, 1938 Patented July 1, 1941 COTTON PICKER Edward A. Johnston, Chicago,1ll., assignor to International Harvester Company, acorporation "of New Jersey Application November 25;1938; Serial-No.1242,238

4 Claims.

' This invention'relates to cotton pickers. More particularly it"relates'to improvements in doffing mechanism.

. In the rotating-spindle type. of cotton picker,

'- one of the'problems is to remove the picked cot-.1 ton from the-spindles efiiciently and without excessive'twisting of the:cotton. By the construction of conical spindles, as shown inmy United States Patent No. 1,888,506, dated November 22,

1932, dofling has been greatly facilitated, Darticu-.-:;

.' larly byarrangingtthe spindles. at an' axis with respect to:the.carrying. drum whereby the upper edgeszof the spindles. move in a plane which can be' engaged by' ardoffer to provide a'. substantial dofling area in' the nature of a planar surface.

. To furtherrimprove thedoffing in cotton pickers of the. spindle-type, constructions have been devised' as disclosedfand clairned in" my 'Patent No. 2,140,631; dated December 20; 1938. In such constructions :th'e' spindles: are"arran'ged on car-P riers'whereby they may be br'oug'ht into thedoffing area at anglesapproachingatangent, tov facilitate dofiing from-the? large-to thesm'all end of each individual spindle.

The principalobject of the present invention is toprovide further" improvements: in'a conical spindle type of 'cottonrpicker as above: referred the teeth thereon arranged andrpresented during A further object is to provide: spindles having operation --to'-the doifer so as 'tozfacilitate' the doling operation.

'. The above-objects area-accomplished"by providing spiral teethiarranged':in'a"directioni=on1 the rotating spindles so "as to be; continually pre-e "sented during :operation to-thezdofier substantially at'a tangent to the dofiing element,

-. A preferred'embodiment of-xthe means for accomplishingthe-objects of this invention isshown Figure '1 is va'planwviewof a'portion'of a cotton' picker; broken away in section" toshow" the .relative positions of the; spindles with-=8respect spindle;

to one of thedofling elements; Figure 2 is anenlarged view of'flone type'ofi Figure 3 is-arr enlargedview of a-=modified type of spindle; and,

-F1'gure 4 is an elevation of a portion'of a'spindle-carrying ban-showing: also in section 'a por-v.

:-tion' of a doffenin its relative-positioncwith respect-tothe picking. spindles. I Inorder-to i limit.-the"drawing'to showonly cotton picker.construction; onlylsuch portions of;

the essential features of applicant's improved a drum structure and a dofierstructure have been shown as are necessary to clearly illustrate the construction and functioning of'the. device.

. Cotton pickers'of the type having arotating drum or other supporting means on whichspindle bars are carried are well known inthe art.

' Attention is called-particularly to'my allowed ap- .'plication above referred to, which discloses .such

construction. The drum'structure is rotatably mounted on a supporting structure and moved along the field with the rotating-spindlesywhich are driven-byz'suitable power means; brought into engagementvwith the: plant and subsequently "brought into'engagement with the doffer, which is also driven by suitable power means. 7

In the drawing, a portion ill of the drumstructure is-shown in' sectionto illustrate somewhat 'ydiagrammatically the cam track II, in which a number of-ball bearing assemblies l2 are visible.

Said assemblies 'aremounted 'on' the upper-ends of arms |3=-rigidly secured to and serving as' extensions for'verticalspindle bars l4. Said bars have" bearing surfaces 15 at their upper endsand are adaptedto be supported and operated as shown in theconstruction' of the allowed application. 'A driving-gear IB- is shownin mesh with a'gear l1; which'drives a-vertical'shaft' for'op- --erating the rotatingspindles I8 on each" of the spindle bars- I4. Each of'the spindles I8' is mounted at an angle with respect to the'spi'ndle I 'bar' orr'which it is mountedybeing held in'posi- -tion with armovable" member 19-" threaded into the spindle'bar. It will-be noted that'the'spindies are inclined orarranged'at 'such' an angle '35.

that one edge of the spindle at all timeslies in 2.

- plane perpendicular tothe axis of' the spindle bar; Said-spindle bars; it will be understood; are

-mounted. on thedrum :structure- H); which is 1'0- tatable on a verticalaxisM. Asthe-axesofthe ,bar I4 are parallel to .thezaxis- M. of. thedrum structure, it can .be.said that oneedgeof teach spindle H3 at all .times lies. in a plane perpendicul-ar to the axis of the drum structure.

The teeth on the drawings of Figures .1. and 4 are shown somewhat diagrammatically. Said teeth are arranged on spirals around the spindles,

converging somewhat from the base to the "outer end of smaller diameter. The drum structure is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow adjace'nt the'aXis M. The spindlesare rotated duringoperati'on'in thedirection" shown 'by'the arrows at the bases of the spindles.

. Figure 2- shows a-preferred-wtype'of spindle. 'spirally arranged-teeth" 20- are located in spiral grooves 2|. i The teeth project upwardlm and 'are tion of the drum structure.

' spindle.

- improved by this angle.

A portion of the dofi'er construction is illustrated in the drawing. A doffer shaft 23 is positioned on a vertical axis parallel to the axis M of the drum structure. Said shaft is splined to receive a plurality of doffer members 24. Each of said members carries a dotting element 25 providing a plurality of dofiing surfaces, which describe an annular planar doffing area during rotation of the-shaft 23. The doffer construction 'isfarranged so that the dofling elements 25 he closelyadjacent to or lightly engage the edges of the spindles l8, which lie in a plane. It will be understood that the corresponding spindles on each .of' the bars [4 are arranged in circumferential rows such that each spindle successively approaches and passes through the doffing area.

' Inorder to facilitate dofiing,the spindles are arranged on the oscillating'bars whereby each bar may be angled as. the spindles approach the doffing area to angle the spindles into trailing position with respect to the direction of rota- The spindles are then brought into somewhat ofa tangential relation with respect to the doifer element, as best shownby .the lowermost spindle shown in Figure 1. ,With the doffer element moving in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1,

. the'dofling element engages the spindle at some point upwardly from its end and sweeps downwardly toward the lower end, thereby acting to push the cotton fibers wound around the spindle outwardly to a section of the spindle having a smaller diameter. This loosens the tightly wound cotton and facilitates its removal from the spindle. The teeth 20 are arranged so as to repeatedly release the cotton when pressure is exerted on the cotton toward the outer end of the Due to the necessity for a large number of spindles and to other mechanical limitations,

it' is not possible to move the spindles through the entire doflin'g' area in tangential relation with respect to the dofiing element.

'cip'al feature of this invention is to provide a The prinspindle construction which aids materially in "doffing by improving therelative relation between the teeth of the spindles and thedoffer. By arranging the teeth in spirals as shown, it

will be understood that. during ro ation of. the

drum structureon the axisM. bodil advancing the. s indles and simultaneously rotating the spindles in the angular direction indicated by the arrows thereon, the teeth are brought upwardly into dofiing position as the spindles are bodily advanced. As the angle of the teeth is approximately thirty (30) degrees with respect to the axisof the spindles, the tangentialposition is This improvement assures that, during a substantial portion of the doffing period and throughout a substantial portion of the dofling area, the dofiing elements sweep downwardly along the teeth from. the base of the spindle toward the outer end substa tially parallel to the rows of teeth. 7

The spindle construction shown in Figure 2 is particularly designed for a dofier of the type illustrated. The dofling element 25 is formed of a resilient material, such as rubber. merged tooth construction, as shown in Figure 2, the spindle engaging portions of the dofiing element may rest directly on the portions 22 of the spindle without engaging the teeth 20, which would tend to cause excessive wear of the doffing elements. During operation, the elements resting on the smooth portions 22 sweep down the spindle substantially parallel to the rows of teeth 20, removing the cotton therefrom effectively withoutactual contact with the teeth.

The operation of the improved cotton picker construction has been explained above in connection with the description of the drawing. 'As pointed out, only such elements have been shown as are. necessary to clearly illustrate the principle of the invention and the'means necessary to effectively accomplish the desired results. Applicant contemplates the use of the structure shown on any cotton picker onwhich it could be satisfactorily applied. Applicant also contemplates as a portion of his invention any modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims;

. What is claimedis: e

1. In a cotton picker having rotatable conical picking spindles, meanszfor bodilymoving said being tilted at an angle, such thatone edge of each moves through a'plane, said spindle being formed with steep spiral rows of teeth, said rows being at a small angle with respect to the axis of the spindles, and a circular rotatable doffer element arranged with the dofling' surface in a plane at right angles to'the axis of rotation, said dofling element being rotatable in a direction such that the dofling surface moves in a direction opposite to the bodily" movement of i the spindle, said spindle being rotated in a direction with the surface adjacent the dofiing element moving in the same direction as said element,'the direction of the spirals of said teeth being such that adjacent teeth of a row by rotation of the spindle are brought into contact with the dofflng element moving successivelyfrom the outer end towards the base and substantiallyparallel to the row.

2. In a cotton picker having avertical rotatable drum structure, vertical bars mounted for oscillation on said structure, picking spindles rotatably mounted on said bars in circumferential, spaced rows around the-drum structure, and dofiing elements rotatable toprovide' planar dofiing areasabove each row" of spindles, said spindles being'c'onical andbeing mounted'at an angle on the vertical bars, whereby their edges pass through the planar dofiing surface in contact with the dofling e1ements,.said spindles being provided with spiral rows of teeth, the'spirals being arranged with respect to thedirecti'on of rotation of the spindles such that successive teeth are brought into doffing position from the small end of the spindle towards the base, whereby the doffer successively engages teeth on portionsof In a subture, a plurality of rotatable spindles carried by said structure, said spindles being arranged at an angle with respect to the axis of the drum structure whereby the dofling edges of the spindles lie in planes at right angles to the axis of the drum structure, doffing elements mounted for rotation on an axis parallel to the axis of the drum structure said elements defining an annular dofling area during rotation, said spindles being provided with a plurality of teeth arranged in steep spiral rows therearound, said rows being at a small angle with respect to the axis of the spindle whereby the spindles are brought into dofiing area with the rows of teeth generally tangential to the dofiing elements and whereby due to the steep angle of the teeth on the spindles dofiing takes place over a substantial portion of the dofiing area with the doffing elements moving downwardly from the bases of the spindles to the ends thereof substantially parallel to the rows of teeth.

4. In a cotton picker, a rotating drum structure, a plurality of spindle supporting members mounted on axes parallel to the drum axis on said structure, a plurality of rotatable spindles carried by said members, said spindles being arranged at an angle with respect to the axis or the drum structure whereby the dofilng edges of the spindles lie in planes at right angles to the axis of the drum structure, dofling elements mounted for rotation on an axis parallel to the axis of the drum structure said elements defining an annular dofiing area during rotation, said spindles being provided with a plurality of teeth arranged in steep spiral rows therearound, said rows being at a small angle with respect to the axis of the spindle, means for oscillating the spindle supporting members to angle the picking spindles with respect to the radii of the drum structure as the spindles approach the doifing area whereby the spindles are brought into said area generally tangential to the dofling elements and whereby due to the steep angle of the teeth on the spindles dofling takes place over a substantial portion of the dofling area with the dofling elements moving downwardly from the bases of the spindles to the ends thereof substantially parallel to the rows of teeth.

EDWARD A. JOHNSTON. 

